Does Weight Training Make Women Bulky?
Does weight training make women bulky?
by Rueben Palacios
Weight loss by women mostly produces muscle and bone loss. A combination of low total calories, aerobic exercise, and decreased protein intake will cause the body to literally strip muscle off of your body. Even with more muscle, a woman won’t look muscular unless she has very low body fat levels. Women naturally have more body fat than men, which is what gives them their feminine curves. Let’s look at why weight training does not make the average woman big and bulky.
First, the hormonal profile of the average woman is very different than that of the average man. Testosterone, one of the hormones linked to muscular growth, is about ten times lower in women. Second, it takes the average man an entire year of hard training and diligent eating in order to gain a measly eight pounds of muscles. A woman with the same dedication will gain appreciably less due to her lower testosterone. I think women confuse getting bulky with swollen muscles during a workout. Its ok, guys seem to think that they are huge monsters after a few sets of weight training. They do leave the gym a little inflated but as soon as they get home its back to reality!
To even attain the biggest volume of muscles your genetics allow, you must consume a consistently high number of calories not to mention you must live a life that is restricted to mostly supporting muscle mass increase, like sleeping eight hours a night, avoiding alcohol, and basically living a life devoid of many things social. In other words, building muscle isn’t an easy task for just anyone, but for the average woman, it is even more difficult.
By really lifting weights and stressing your muscles you will increase your lean mass, and since it is this lean mass (muscle tissue) that burns fat, you will have the capacity to burn more fat even at rest. Combining this with a moderate amount of cardiovascular activity (not three step classes in a row) will turn your body into a fat burning machine.